


Among

by Koschei_Oakdown



Category: DC Universe Online, Green Lantern - All Media Types
Genre: Alliances, Arguing, Conspiracy Theories, Diplomacy, Fake Character Death, Flirting, Honesty, M/M, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-08-10 01:36:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20127220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koschei_Oakdown/pseuds/Koschei_Oakdown
Summary: How Sinestro got the number to interrupt Hal and Carol during the Blackest Night raid. Hal gave it to him. Obviously.





	Among

**Author's Note:**

> Credit to DC Comics

Angry voices from across the room caught Thaal's attention and he glanced over, prepared to call his Lanterns back from where they were no doubt causing trouble. To his surprise, he saw the heated exchange he'd heard was actually taking place between several Green Lanterns. So the Sinestro Corps was in fact, still upholding the truce. Excellent.

On closer inspection of the small group of arguing Green Lanterns, Thaal recognised the main participant as Hal Jordan. And really, who else would it be? Hal was always causing trouble. Well, as long as he directed those trouble-making tendencies towards his own Corps, Thaal did not care to interfere. Nevertheless, he kept his eye on the situation - he so did enjoy watching Green Lanterns fight.

"... Isn't that right, Lord Sinestro?" someone asked him and Sinestro looked back at the conversation he had so far been ignoring. A small group of Yellow Lanterns were watching him expectantly, waiting for an answer.

They were supposed to be his protection from the Green Lanterns, from anyone who decided to attack Sinestro instead of work with him, but so far, all they'd really done was be extremely annoying. He should've brought someone more interesting, like Lyssa or Hank. But Lyssa was recovering from her encounter with Black Lanterns, and putting Hal Jordan and Hank Henshaw in the same room would not be a smart move.

When Sinestro made no move to reply, the Yellow Lantern who had spoken hesitated, but then continued, "Once Black Hand and his undead soldiers have been defeated, we will destroy the Green Lantern Corps once and for all. They started all this. It was their alliance with Brainiac that led Black Lanterns to invade Qward. They need to pay."

A couple of the other Yellow Lanterns nodded in agreement but they were the only ones. Another spoke up, critical of the announcement. "No Green Lantern was working with Brainiac. They are as much a victim in this as we are."

One of the Yellow Lanterns who had been in agreement with the first proclamation quickly shot down this counter argument. "That's what they said, but since when have we trusted anything that comes out of a Green Lantern's mouth? Maybe they were working with Brainiac to destroy us, but he turned on them and so they allied with us instead."

It was an interesting theory, but one Thaal thought was very unlikely. Perhaps the Guardians would have been open to such an underhanded method, but their Corps would never have agreed to it. Brainiac had been all over the universe, most Green Lanterns were aware of the crimes he'd committed and the lives he'd destroyed. They'd never have agreed to an alliance, and Thaal should have realised that a lot sooner than he had.

"I advise you not to discuss any impending destruction of the Green Lantern Corps," was all Sinestro contributed to the conversation. "We wouldn't want to make them uncomfortable. This alliance is important. We cannot defeat Black Hand without another Lantern Corps."

Of course, Sinestro hadn't actually denied that they would indeed eventually destroy the Green Lantern Corps, because that was absolutely his intention. He just didn't want his enemies to overhear anyone talking about it and his words did put an end to the discussion. Stifling a yawn, Thaal turned away.

Automatically, Sinestro's gaze was drawn back to the arguing Green Lanterns. He was curious. They'd stopped arguing and Hal was left standing alone, looking very annoyed. For a brief moment, his eyes met Sinestro's and there was something in his expression that had Thaal wondering if the argument been about him.

It was amusing to Thaal, the idea that the two of them would argue in favour of their alliance at the same time and he smirked. Somehow looking more irritated than before, Hal broke eye contact and glared at his fellow Green Lanterns instead. Perhaps Hal was finally learning his own Corps was untrustworthy and just not the place he should be.

More amused by the second, Thaal allowed himself to be pulled back into conversation with his Corps. They were now discussing how it was they'd each received a yellow ring. The Earthlings were of course, of those who had been affected by the exobytes released onto Earth. Mostly, they were insufferable rookies and Thaal had to wonder where Calculator had found these people. Was there truly no one better?

But the conversation quickly trailed off, and all the Yellow Lanterns were staring over Sinestro's shoulder with wide eyes. Eyebrow raised, Sinestro turned to see what they were looking at. Hal Jordan stood behind him, arms crossed and looking unusually uncomfortable.

"What's he want?" one of the Yellow Lanterns muttered as though Hal couldn't very easily hear the question. Sinestro signalled for silence and then he focused his full attention on Hal. He wasn't the only one. From across the room, several Green Lanterns were shooting Hal annoyed looks. Could it be a result of the usual irritation they seemed to feel on seeing Hal treat Sinestro like a valued ally? Or was it something else?

For now, Thaal simply went along with the original reason they had gathered here. "You told me you have an update on the Black Lanterns," he reminded. "What is it? Or would you prefer to argue with your colleagues for a while longer before giving me anything useful to work with?"

Alright, so maybe Sinestro's tone was a little biting. Could he really be blamed? There were preparations he had to make for war against the undead, repairs to Ranx after the battle that had already taken place. Yet he'd put it all on hold to meet with Hal. The least Hal could do was hurry up in divulging whatever secrets he had.

"We're gonna meet in Metropolis," Hal revealed but he seemed distracted, far more so than he should be if they were going to win this war. "All colours. That's where Nekron is. You can't miss him. But I - I need to tell you something." His gaze dropped down and he rubbed awkwardly at his shoulder, before meeting Sinestro with a look that did not bode anything good. "Can we talk? In private?"

The Yellow Lanterns at Sinestro's back muttered suspiciously to each other and seemed to be already quietly plotting the quickest way to take the Green Lantern out. It involved a lot of arguing and insistence on not acting as a supporting role in the fight. Everybody simply wanted to take Hal down as fast as they could.

"Very well," Sinestro agreed, anything to get away from his idiotic Lanterns. It wasn't as though Hal would dare hurt him and risk losing the help of Yellow Lanterns. Only Sinestro would ever deign to work with Green Lanterns. Without him, Hal was doomed. It was incredibly satisfying to have Hal trapped like that.

Leaving his Lanterns to their little debate, Thaal followed Hal into the next room. The door closed and it was very quiet. Was this when Thaal would be assassinated? It wouldn't be an intelligent move to make but if Sinestro had done something to really aggravate the Green Lantern standing before him, it might not matter. He wracked his brains, trying to think of anything he'd recently done that could cause Hal to want to kill him. The list was, unfortunately, quite long.

Leaning his back against the door, Hal appeared to be rather apprehensive even as he fixed Sinestro with a considering gaze. "OK, look," he said, straightening up now with a determined expression. "I'm supposed to keep my mouth shut -"

"Always a good idea for you, darling," Sinestro interjected immediately, never willing to pass up on the opportunity to poke at Hal. It usually worked too. No wonder it was so probable Hal was actually about to snap and kill him.

An irritated look was shot in Sinestro's direction and it was him who snapped his mouth shut. Really, he did want to hear what Hal had to say to him but that was never going to happen if he couldn't be quiet. He just had to resist his constant urge to mess with Hal.

After a pause, Hal continued, though this time with narrowed eyes as though just daring Sinestro to interrupt again, "I'm not supposed to tell you any of this. But we're allies, right? We need to be honest with each other, even about the not so pleasant things. I trust you to keep a clear head. Mostly. You can get revenge later. Whatever. I just don't want you finding out on your own when we're halfway through this whole Blackest Night thing."

It was all very vague but Thaal was beginning to get suspicious. What kind of information did Hal have that could possibly make Sinestro end their alliance prematurely? Had Hal, in fact, been working with Brainiac?

"There was a fight in the battlezone of Downtown Metropolis," Hal went on to explain and he was back to looking uncomfortable, as though he wished to be doing anything else. "A group of stupid GL rookies took it a little further than the usual throwing of punches. A lot further." For a brief moment, Hal closed his eyes, obviously bracing himself, and then he broke the news, "Amon Sur is dead."

It wasn't what Thaal had been expecting to hear and a jolt of shock went through him. His nephew, killed by a few worthless Green Lanterns? It couldn't be true. But, Thaal remembered, he hadn't seen Amon for a few days. He'd simply assumed Amon had wandered off to sulk somewhere again but perhaps the cause of his disappearance was due to something more serious.

On the verge of completely annihilating the alliance as Hal had been expecting, Thaal turned his back on Hal and focused on his ring. "Lantern Sur." Hopefully, Hal was mistaken and Amon would respond, would confirm that he was in fact still alive. Seconds ticked by with Thaal's worry only increasing. What would he do without one of his least competent high-ranking Lanterns? Worse still, had he truly failed in protecting Abin's son?

The light of a yellow hologram flickered into existence and Amon Sur frowned irritably at Sinestro, arms crossed. "What do you want?" he grumbled, completely forgoing any of the respect he should be showing to his Corps Leader. Too busy being relieved Amon was alive, Thaal didn't notice.

"OK, what?" From behind Sinestro, Hal sounded totally stunned to see Amon Sur was in fact, not dead. "There's no way this is happening. I saw the replay of his head getting blown off!" Hal moved forward so he could jab a finger aggressively at the construct hologram of Amon Sur. "No one could have survived that. I bet he's a Black Lantern."

By this point, Thaal was frankly, very annoyed that his time had been wasted with this ridiculousness. "You saw his head 'getting blown off'?" he repeated, turning to Hal with an unimpressed look. "And what did Green Lantern of Sector 2814 learn about Ungarans, people in his charge, many years ago? If you might recall, assuming your head is not utterly filled with large bits of fluff, they have a certain incredible ability..."

Hal's mouth opened and closed. He seemed lost for words. Then his eyes widened. "They can regrow their heads." Now Hal had realised this, his cheeks flushed scarlet in embarrassment. And rightly so. To think he'd almost doomed them all to Nekron because he'd forgotten one simple fact! It was outrageous.

"Is that a Green Lantern with you?" Amon was curious, only able to see and hear Sinestro. "Do they think I'm dead? As if." Disgusted by the very idea, it seemed, Amon curled his top lip into a sneer. "Getting thrown into that river after my head exploded was a clever ploy to aid my escape." He said this completely seriously. "Now, I will enact my revenge. And I don't need you to help me, Sinestro. Stay out of this."

With that, the hologram construct of Amon disappeared as the Ungaran effectively hung up on his Corps Leader. Thaal wasn't surprised but he did note that he would have to send a few Yellow Lanterns to make sure Amon didn't cause any serious trouble in the search for revenge. As long as no one died however, the alliance should be fine.

"I'm sorry," Hal said then, and he did look like he really meant it. "For all of this. I should've remembered about Ungarans, then the Corps wouldn't have been freaking out for the past few days." No doubt thinking back on that time, Hal furrowed his brow, but he was quick to pull himself out of the reverie. "We also imprisoned a few of your Lanterns who witnessed Amon's 'death'. I'll have them released and sent back to you."

"No," Sinestro finally spoke up. "If you release them now, they'll cause trouble I do not need. Wait until after the Black Lanterns have been defeated. We will be rediscussing the alliance then as well, since it will be an unnecessary arrangement and my Lanterns are so very eager to destroy all of you as soon as possible."

It was clear Hal was a little taken aback by this unorthodox approach of leaving Lanterns in cells but he didn't protest against it. "Alright," he agreed simply. "There's one other thing." He reached out for Sinestro's left hand and entwined their fingers together. A small string of data was transferred between their rings. "That's the number of the frequency Carol and I have been using to communicate. Just don't tell anyone I gave it to you. They wouldn't be happy."

Thaal was sensing a pattern here. No one actually seemed to want him to be part of this alliance, even though he'd already taken on Black Hand and survived. Not many of the other Lanterns could claim that, or deny Sinestro's worth. Yet they continued to shut him out of the war.

"Hey." Hal's fingers slid up to wrap around Sinestro's wrist. "You know I want you here, right? Even though it sometimes seems like I'm the only one. And I know you're probably secretly plotting to destroy me after all this, but -" Hal yawned, showing how little he cared about that. Or that he was tired. Perhaps both. "I'll see you in Metropolis."

On that note, Hal turned to leave, but Thaal held him back. "Wait," he requested and Hal glanced back even as Sinestro moved in closer. "I want to thank you. For your honesty, even if it was misplaced. Your intentions were… far better than anyone else's." His fingers moved up to press Hal's shoulder against the door, and Thaal leaned down to murmur, "It's almost enough to convince me not to destroy you when all of this is over."

Breathily, Hal laughed, and one of his hands settled on Sinestro's hip. "I don't think you could but I'd love to keep convincing you not to try." With an easy jerk of his hand, he pulled Sinestro against him, and when he looked up, his smirk was playful. "You don't really want me dead, do you?"

Moving closer still, Thaal brushed his lips against Hal's ear. "Not right now," was all he said and his fingers raked down Hal's side, making his intentions very clear. The gasp in response was delicious but it wasn't the only thing Thaal heard and he glanced up at the loud crash that had apparently come from the next room. "Did you hear that?"

The change in tone was drastic, Thaal was sharp and focused, concerned at what could possibly be going on to cause such a violent sounding noise. And more had followed, the familiar sound of battle breaking out. "Must be our Lanterns," Hal sighed, clearly disappointed. "C'mon, we have to make sure they don't kill each other."

Lightly, he pushed Sinestro away from him, and then he turned to walk out the door. After a moment, Thaal followed. Whoever had started the fight, and therefore interrupted him and Hal, would pay dearly. Oh, yes, he was going to rip them apart molecule by molecule.


End file.
